Chapter 77: Wererat (2/2)
Their fists collided in dull booms, the savage aura coating Aina's body not dispelling even in the slightest. Even though blood slowly dripped from her hands, her ferocity only seemed to increase.
Though the werewolf used his Force, Aina still didn't dare to do so. The man had only formed a single Force Node. Though it was possible to control Force output, that was only for those with high spirit. In comparison to her Force, Aina's own spirit could be considered as wholly lacking. She had no confidence in restraining her Force properly.
The kind of Invalids that would come for a person who had formed one Force Node and the kinds that would come for someone who had formed seven could be imagined.
A powerful Invalid might come here if they were close for this werewolf, but if they were a distance away, they wouldn't bother. However, for Aina, even if it meant transferring to the ends of the earth and crossing the rivers of hell, they would make their way here without pause or rest.
Like this, Aina had no choice. Her ability gave her great control over the state of her body, but when it came to Force… she was at a loss.
Suddenly, Aina's eyes dulled and her movements turned sluggish. She didn't even realize what was happening when a fist had collided with her torso. It was so large in comparison to her body that her hips and ribs felt the impact all at once.
Spittle flew from her mouth as all the air in her lungs was forcefully ejected. Glittering stars flew across her vision, dotting her sight in flashing lights and blurry hues.
Even when she cratered into the remains of a home right by Leonel's former residence, she still had no idea what happened.
Leonel's eyes widened. He wanted to rush over, but he simply couldn't break free out of the combined attacks of the werehyena and werecheetah. If he tried to force his way through, the result would likely be a serious injury on his part.
He grit his teeth. He thought he had reached some elevated status by clearing an S-grade Zone, but he failed to remember that most of the enemies he had faced were just normal humans. Their stats didn't even touch 0.50. Compared to Leonel, they were like infants waiting for slaughter.
The worst part was that even then, they had still almost done him in. If it wasn't for him grasping Joan's weakness at a critical point, he would have died that day in Paris and never returned.
However, these opponents before him now might have had weaker stats than him, but they were still superhuman to the point he couldn't simply rely on his stronger body to defeat them.
'What the hell happened? There's no way that werewolf is stronger than Aina.'
Leonel's held head whipped back, his eyes landing on a wererat barely a meter and a half in height. Its gaze, too, had been moving away from Aina's battle and just so happened to meet Leonel's. Though his face seemed expressionless, the long whiskers on his ratlike face seemed to curl into a sneer along with his snout.
At those very same moments, the first Invalids had made their way to the crater. They swarmed from all directions. In the blink of an eye, there were three to four dozen of them.
Seeing that he had heavily injured Aina, the werewolf immediately stopped using his Force and charged toward the collapsed building she had fallen into. But, while his efforts would stop more Invalids from converging, those that already had still far outnumbered them.
On Leonel's side of the battle, the wererat's gaze suddenly flashed with a blinding light that seemed to want to envelop Leonel completely just when the latter was about to turn his head away and go all out to stop the werewolf.
'Your mind is too strong for me to influence normally, but to think you would actually dare meet my gaze. Die!'
The wererat snickered in his thoughts, an incorporeal sharp blade piercing toward Leonel. Unlike other fools, he had no intention of saying such words out loud. If Leonel wanted to understand his true ability… He could go ahead and ask those who preceded him in hell!